After defeating then-No. 1 Virginia on March 11 and No. 1 Princeton on Saturday it is hard to argue with anyone who would place the label of "giant-killer" on the Penn State women's lacrosse team.

But in order to kill the giant, the Nittany Lions must be facing one. At 3 p.m. today at Bigler Field when the Lions (5-1, 2-0 ALC) host Temple, they will not be playing one of the behemoths of women's lacrosse, like Princeton or Virginia.

But they can think that way.

"We need to go in thinking that Temple is better than us, that they're No. 1 because we obviously play very well against No. 1 teams," Penn State senior midfield Emily Chambers said.

For all of the Lions' success against No. 1-ranked teams, there is one blemish on their record, a last-second 13-12 loss to No. 20 William & Mary.

Chambers said that loss, which was sandwiched between the Virginia and Princeton victories, should be the Lions' last this year.

"There's no reason for us to lose any games from now on. There really is no reason," she said. "We obviously have shown that we can play with the best of them, and we've beat two of the best that there is."

Temple (1-2) is led by first-year head coach Jennifer Ulelha, who previously coached the James Madison women's program for eight years, leading the Dukes to the 2000 Final Four.

In addition, the Lions will see a familiar face on the Owls sideline in B.J. Lucey.

Now an assistant coach for Temple, Lucey was a four-year letterwinner for Penn State from 1999-02. Lucey was a former team captain for the Lions and also was a two-time Regional All-American.

Last season, the Lions defeated the Owls, 8-5, but the two teams went in different directions from there. Temple went on to finish 11-7 and play in the NCAA tournament, where it lost in the first round to No. 3 Maryland.

The Lions finished with a 6-11 record and did not make the postseason. But this season, the Lions have proved that they are a different team than they were a year ago.

Through six games, the Lions have already defeated three of last season's Final Four teams -- Virginia, Princeton and Vanderbilt.

"We want to keep the momentum going, but I don't think we've reached our potential yet," Chambers said. "We're still on the climb up."